McCain tech policy: crack down on piracy, fix patent mess

Presidential candidate John McCain has issued a policy statement that provides details of his position on a wide range of issues that relate to technology. Like most political statements from members of both major parties, it is heavy on promises and light on specific solutions.

The policy statement starts by addressing McCain's economic policies, which emphasize perpetuation of Bush's low tax on capital gains and reduction of the corporate tax rate. McCain also supports R&D tax credits and takes a strong position against taxation of the Internet and wireless services. The fact that tax cuts landed at the top of the list reflects the prominent role that the Republican take on fiscal conservatism will play in McCain's policy decisions.

It's worth noting that his plan to lower the corporate tax rate to 25 percent is ambitious, even by Republican standards. McCain contends that tax cuts will improve the economy and give American companies an incentive to stop moving their operations overseas.

Cleaning up the patent mess

McCain believes that intellectual property rights deserve strong protection, but he also acknowledges that excessively broad patents can stifle innovation. Those of us who have been keeping a close eye on the patent system generally view it as a complete mess and think that ongoing reform efforts aren't sufficient to address the problems.

McCain wants to provide the patent office with more resources and find ways to facilitate mediation of patent disputes without litigation. Predictably, he fails to provide any meaningful recommendations for precisely how the patent system can be modified in a way that will actually reduce litigation.

Internet piracy crackdown

A particularly controversial aspect of his policies on intellectual property law is his support for cracking down on Internet piracy, which he describes as a "global epidemic." The war against piracy has frequently made regular consumers suffer collateral damage. Major content industry groups have launched a steady barrage of lawsuits against individuals accused of non-commercial copyright infringement with the aim of intimidating the accused into handing over quick settlement cash. McCain seems unconcerned by this often indiscriminate litigation campaign.

McCain also fails to address the imbalances in copyright law that impede technological innovation. One of the most egregious of these is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which hampers security researchers and prevents consumers from exercising their fair use rights with legally purchased media content. When even the military faces DMCA-based lawsuits, there is clearly a need for some reform.

Another major issue with McCain's intellectual property policy is the absence of a plan for addressing abusive copy protection mechanisms that directly harm consumers. His intellectual property positions clearly favor the content industry and not the general public.

Internet regulation

I also observed what I consider to be inconsistencies in McCain's policies on Internet regulation. McCain says that he will fight to keep the Internet free from government regulation, but also touts his voting record on laws that protect kids from "harmful Internet content." Indeed, McCain was a cosponsor of the Children's Internet Protection Act, an Internet censorship law that Congress devised when the unconstitutional Child Online Protection Act got tied up in the courts.

It is unclear what exactly determines when he will support regulation and when he will not. His policy paper claims that he supports regulation in cases where it is needed to protect consumers, but he explicitly opposes net neutrality despite clear evidence of abuses by major telecom companies.

McCain's positions on technology issues are mostly unsurprising, but his anticonsumer positions on copyright law are somewhat disappointing. Dysfunctional aspects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act are well documented, and there is a very clear need for reform.

Full disclosure: I am not a registered member of either major political party and have no plans to support either candidate